This invention relates to an apparatus in the form of a shed which is disposed at the coke side of coke ovens and arranged to extend along the entire length of a battery of coke ovens. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a shed which includes a wall spaced outwardly beyond a track for a quenching car used to receive coke from the ovens and wherein the shed includes an extractor for removing smoke that occurs when coke is pushed from an oven chamber into the quenching car.
As is known, hot coke is pressed out of a chamber of a coke oven into a quenching car adapted to move along a battery of such coke ovens. When the hot coke comes into contact with the air outside the ovens, vigorous combustion takes place. Highly buoyant gases are given off and entrained therein are large amounts of coke particles which are responsible for considerable environmental pollution. The prior art contains numerous suggestions of hoods, protective roof and other similar structures allegedly useful to alleviate or at least limit such pollution. Devices of this kind are not only costly but often have a limited effect for the intended purpose.
It has been suggested that a roof should be provided for a battery of coke ovens along the entire length thereof wherein the roof is made up of a horizontal portion and a downwardly-sloping portion toward the area outwardly beyond the oven chambers. This roof extends from the oven chamber doors as far as a longitudinal wall and covers the quenching car track. Inside the space covered by the roof, there is a perforated gas extractor pipe that extends along the entire length of the battery of oven chambers. The pipe is employed to extract gases and dust into a chimney of a quenching tower. The extent to which fans can be employed to extract gases from the space enclosed by the roof is limited. Workmen are needed to work within the area below the roof. The extraction process is insufficient to remove the relatively heavy coke particles entrained in the rising smoke and gases by the use of the extraction pipe. The buoyancy of the gases associated with the abrupt combustion does initially hurl the heavier coke particles upwardly but these particles usually bounce against the roof surface and then drop. Consequently, workmen while performing their necessary duties under this type of roof experience a continuous rain of coke particles. This is an unsatisfactory condition for the workmen to perform duties over a long period of time.